The present invention relates to a headlight for a vehicle and especially to a headlight for a motor vehicle.
A known headlight of a type, on which the present invention is based, is described in German Patent Application DE 195 19 872 A1. This headlight has a light source and a reflector, by which light from the light source is reflected as a convergent light beam. The headlight also has an additional reflector, which is arranged between the reflector and the lens, and light issuing from the light source is reflected also by the additional reflector as an additional light beam. The additional reflector is assembled laterally beside the reflector and has a parabolic shape, so that the additional light beam reflected by it extends approximately parallel to its optic axis, which at least approximately coincides with the optic axis of the main reflector. The additional light beam passes through a light permeable disk or pane, on which a lens is mounted, and is scattered horizontally by optical elements of the disk. The additional light beam produces a light intensity distribution which overlaps the light intensity distribution produced by the light beam passing through the lens. When the headlight is observed with the light source turned on not only its lens is illuminated through which the light beam passes, but also the additional reflector, so that in as much as a larger surface is illuminated than the surface of the lens, the headlight is not perceived to be subjectively as blinding. It is disadvantageous in this headlight that the disk is required to have optical elements to produce the horizontally scattered additional light beam and this increases the manufacture and assembly costs for the headlight. Furthermore the disk is not completely transparent in the vicinity of the headlight, so that the headlight has no uniform appearance with the light source turned off.